You may have heard this already, but Johns Hopkins University
has a job opening. President William R. Brody retires as
Hopkins' 13th president on December 31, and the university
has begun the search for Prez Number 14. If you'd like to
nominate a candidate, you can do so at the official
presidential search Web site. Pamela P. Flaherty, SAIS '68
(MA), chair of the Hopkins board of trustees, states in a
welcoming letter, "An opportunity like this comes but
rarely." No disagreement here. The official position profile
that defines the job says, "The university's chief executive
officer . . . occupies a position of enormous import and
influence, both nationally and internationally." No argument
there, either. If you're interested in the job, prepare to be
challenged. The section of the profile devoted to what
Hopkins is looking for runs to almost 1,500 words and notes
that the board of trustees "seeks an individual who will be
proud of the accomplishments of prior presidents, yet willing
to set an aggressive and ambitious new agenda for Johns
Hopkins' future." The list of "primary responsibilities"
numbers 19, including formulation of a strategic plan to
place the institution and all of its schools among the top 10
in the world. Sounds like the hours are long. But we hear the
pay's good, and you do get on-campus housing.— Dale Keiger

Scouting report: "[Champion] is an extraordinarily
bright, creative, research-committed young faculty member,"
says Myron Weisfeldt, chair of the Department of Medicine.
"Some of his work holds great promise for improving human
health."

Research: Champion has published approximately 190
papers. His current research examines the intricate
relationship between heart and lungs. Specifically, he aims
to understand how disease in one organ affects the other and
uncover ways to treat cardiopulmonary diseases. When the tiny
arteries surrounding the lungs are partially blocked, for
example, the heart's right chamber must struggle to pump
blood. Such strain can often lead to heart failure. Champion
and his colleagues found that certain drugs can help loosen
the vessels. "Our research is one of the main reasons why
drugs like Viagra are being used to treat hypertension," he
says.

Mentor: David A. Kass, Division of Cardiology. "He has
a long-standing history of being a world leader and expert in
heart failure," Champion says, and "a gift for clinical and
basic study design."

Toddlers "chunk" data
Adults remember long strings of numbers, like Social
Security or credit card numbers, by breaking them into
smaller chunks. Scientists in the Krieger School of Arts
and Sciences have discovered that children as young as 14
months use the same technique. Lisa Feigenson and Justin
Halberda, assistant professors of psychological and brain
sciences, found that untrained, pre-verbal toddlers
could remember more objects if those objects were presented
in groups — say, six balls arranged in three groups
of two. The results indicated that "chunking" data is not a
learned activity but somehow an innate aspect of the human
mind. The study appeared in the July 14 edition of the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.— DK

The name change (from 1999 JN136) was proposed by the Lowell
Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, which discovered the
asteroid in 1999. The announcement came in July at the IAU's
2008 Asteroids, Comets, Meteors meeting, hosted in Baltimore
by the Applied Physics
Laboratory. Ted Bowell, who leads the Lowell team that
discovered the asteroid, said they chose the name because
they like to honor something from the place where the annual
meeting is held.

Think of the asteroid as the sports car of Johns
Hopkins-named natural objects. It's smaller (only two to four
miles across) and it travels much faster than the Johns
Hopkins Glacier at Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska, which
moves a measly 3,000 feet per year. Asteroid Johnshopkins
tops out at a swift 47,000 mph. Unfortunately, its distance
and size make it difficult to see with even the most powerful
ground telescopes.

Scientists know few specifics about it, but Bowell guesses
that the asteroid is the product of a collision between two
bigger ones, that it's riddled with collision marks and
craters, and that it's comfortably locked in the orbit of the
asteroid belt. There is little chance that it will come
careening toward campus in the near future and give the JHU
PR department a very long week at work. The closest it will
come to Earth will be on March 23, 2009, when its orbit
brings it within 93 million miles — about the distance
between Earth and the sun.— Robert White

Course description: The class presents contemporary
issues in global health with a focus on research in the
industrialized world. Seminar topics include health care
systems; measurement and indicators of health status;
emerging health problems in different countries;
internationally focused intervention studies; and bioethics
in international health research. The course requires each
student to serve as a discussion facilitator and give an
in-depth presentation on an issue related to global
health.

Topics covered:

Introduction: Globalization and health, international health
issues

Family planning: Global perspectives (with a visit to the
Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Communication
Programs, hosted by Asian regional director Edson Whitney)

...In July, the university announced a collaboration with
Germany's Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the largest applied
research organization in Europe. The new initiative will
bring together School
of Medicine and
Whiting School of Engineering researchers with biomedical
engineers at Fraunhofer. The first three projects under
development: a computer-aided endoscopy tool to help diagnose
gastrointestinal disease; a laparoscopic surgery tool to
align pre-operative CT scans during surgery; and a system to
track surgical tools during procedures.

...In June the Nitze
School of Advanced International Studies hosted a
first-of-its-kind career-orientation workshop for Iraqi
refugees, most of whom had risked their lives working as
translators, interpreters, project managers, and cultural
advisers for the U.S. government, military, contractors, and
NGOs. The event, organized by the nonprofit organizations
Upwardly Global and the List Project and by the employment
agency Manpower Inc., offered sessions in
résumé writing, interviewing techniques, and
networking skills, as well as breakfast with Washington,
D.C.-area employers.

...This fall, when the Indian Space Research Organisation
launches its lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1, on board will be
several international instruments. One was constructed by the
Applied Physics
Laboratory: The Mini-RF instrument will map the moon's
poles using synthetic aperture radar with the goal of better
understanding the lunar environment and the possibility of
ice in permanently shadowed regions.— CP

The Provost's
Undergraduate Research Awards (PURA) program began in
1993 to encourage Johns Hopkins undergraduates to conduct
research. This summer, 29 students received PURA grants of
up to $3,000 each. Two projects of note:

Sara Robinson, Nurs '09, "Prevalence and Health Effects
of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in African American and
Afro-Caribbean Women"
Victims of domestic abuse often develop post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD). Because ethnic minorities are
disproportionately affected by domestic violence, Robinson
planned to study abuse-associated PTSD in black women in
Baltimore and the U.S. Virgin Islands. She'll compare PTSD
rates and conduct in-depth interviews to explore cultural
differences. Robinson's work is part of a larger project,
the first domestic violence study conducted in the U.S.
Virgin Islands.

Joseph Heng, Engr '10, "Cochlear Implant-Mediated
Perception of Musical Timbre"
People with cochlear implants find it difficult to
distinguish one musical instrument from another. Heng, who
has implants himself, speculates that the difficulty stems
from differences in the way implantees and hearing
individuals perceive instruments' timbres. Timbre has two
audio components, envelope and spectra, and Heng developed
musical chimeras composed of the envelope from one
instrument combined with spectra from another. He has yet
to complete the research, but so far Heng's hypothesis
seems valid. When asked to identify the chimeras — a
piano-flute hybrid, for example — hearing subjects
tended to identify the spectra instrument, implantees the
envelope instrument. Heng hopes his results will lead to
better cochlear implants.— CW

Doctors not reducing meds
A study led by Sande Okelo, an asthma specialist at the
Johns Hopkins
Children's Center, polled 310 pediatricians nationwide
and found that 40 percent said they would not reduce asthma
medications in children who were doing well, with
controlled or infrequent symptoms. Reduced dosages can
lower side effects and cost, and Okelo says many parents
will inadvisably taper their children's meds without
supervision if a pediatrician fails to do so.
Pediatrics published the research in its July issue.
Americans keep getting bigger
If present trends continue, a stunning 86 percent of
American adults could be overweight or obese by 2030,
according to a new study out of the Bloomberg School of
Public Health. Lead author Youfa Wang, assistant professor
of international health
and human
nutrition, said as many as 96 percent of non-Hispanic
black women and 91 percent of Mexican American men might be
affected. Related health care spending could reach $956.9
billion, a figure Wang labeled a likely underestimate due
to limitations of available data. The study appeared in the
July online edition of Obesity.— DK